That's a great idea! So you grow them and them till them under the soil or do you actually cut the foliage away from the roots? Do you get resprouts? I see that you are also amending along with using the cover crop. It seems like you're tilling everything together once you get to the 45 stage?
Yes, pretty much. There are slight differences in approach depending on what I'm amending but basically that's it.
1) Plant the beps tight, like 3-4" on center
2) Let them grow until they start flowering
3) Turn them in
4) Replant and do it again if you have time or let them winter kill. Keep in mind always that half the food is above the soil and half is below. When you turn it in you get it all. Once the 45 g pots are thriving, I will plant the bep's, harvest the tops at the right time and compost them. I'll leave the roots be as those pots will be no till if possible.
Today I just planted 2 smaller beds that were overtaken by raspberries. I'm not going to plant those beds until June next year. The cover crop I'm using is Daikon Radish. And I seeded it heavily.......they will grow, suck up nutrients from down deep and then winterkill, leaving those radishes and tops to not only rot but also leave a bunch of radish holes. I use the seed I get for seed sprouting. Makes a dense mat and then is gone by late spring. You can eat both the tops and the radishes if you want
One more while I'm sufficiently stoned
And that is Crimson Clover.
When my soil first goes outside, it's pretty devoid of nitrogen and structure. I pile the soil minimum of 6" on the ground, and plant it with crimson clover. It flowers in spring and when that happens I take a flat shovel and try to cut that 6" of soil off as clean as I can, keeping the foliage and dumping that all into a fabric pot/pots, dirt, roots, tops. That's how deep the roots are...6" I let a few go to flower as they are quite pretty and make a long lasting cut flower......Actually quite nice.
Then I'll grow potatoes or sweet potatoes in that once improved soil. When the taters are done, the soil is re-potted again and gets the BEP's until frost.......Next year, gets cut 50% with compost. Then re-curring freshening with new compost or bep plantings. That's it, now healed and headed for vegetables I grow in pots or to improve an existing bed
it looks like quality you usually see from indoor grown, great job for real!
